


Even The Cancers In This World Can Be Beautiful

by whatabodtit



Category: Free!
Genre: I'm Sorry, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2014-12-16
Packaged: 2018-02-28 22:56:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2750207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatabodtit/pseuds/whatabodtit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone knows that cancer doesn't care who you are or what you've done, but the boys at Samezuka Academy and Iwatobi High never thought it would affect them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter was written in class on the back of my math homework, and I figured I could expand and turn it into a multi-chapter story. Sorry for the lazy editing, I'll try to do better about that in later chapters.

"Rei-chan?"

"Hmm?" he didn't even look up from the book he was reading.

"Reiiiii-channnnn~" Rei knew this really meant "pay attention to me, I'm  _so_ bored", but he enjoyed teasing Nagisa, so he let out another questioning hum without looking up again.

"Rei-chan-Rei-chan-Rei-chan" three times all in quick succession meant, "put it down, or I will take that book from you and shove it right up your-"

"Yes, Nagisa-kun?" a smug smile played at Rei's lips.

"I'm bored." he pouted, pursing his lips and raising his eyebrows  _just enough_.

"What do you want  _me_ to do about it?" Rei asked, knowing exactly what Nagisa wanted him to do about it.

Nagisa crawled onto Rei's lap, taking the book and setting it on the table next to them.

Rei, who was expecting the usual kiss that would lead to hand-jobs, was quite shocked when Nagisa wrapped his arms around Rei's neck and rested his head on Rei's shoulder, breathing contentedly into Rei's neck.

"N-Nagisa-kun, are you alright?"

"Ne, Rei-chan?"

"Yes?"

"I love you." Rei felt Nagisa's eyes slip shut, his breathing even out.

"I love you too" Rei whispered into fluffy blonde hair as he gently set him in Rei's bed and pulled the blanket up around him.

He knelt on the floor next to the bed and watched Nagisa for a moment before kissing the top of his head and turning to read again.

* * *

Nagisa rolled over, slowly opening his eyes. It was dark. A lot darker than it was earlier. Rei was asleep, leaning against the bed, his head rolled back and his book open in his lap.

Nagisa smiled and ran his hands through his boyfriend's dark blue hair, "never change" he whispered before waking him up.

"Nagisa-kun? What time is it?"

"I dunno, but come up here, lay with me." Rei obeyed, climbing up and wrapping himself around Nagisa, who rolled so his back was pressed to Rei's chest.

"Rei-chan?"

"Hmm?" Rei's breath fanned out over Nagisa's hair.

"If you were dying, if you knew you only had a little bit of time left, how would you spend it?"

"Nagisa-kun? What is this all of a sudden?"

"Just answer the question."

"I don't know. I'd probably tell you first, then try to spend as much time as I could with you, my family, Haruka-senpai and Makoto-senpai. Why do you ask?"

Nagisa rolled over again, this time to face Rei, tears sat on the edge of Nagisa's eyes, like they were daring each other to spill over, "I have cancer." and the first tear fell. Then the second and third, and then he lost count because Rei was crying too.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My poor babies are gonna dehydrate! This chapter is also kind of awful, but I promise it'll be cute a fluffy next chapter. Let me know what you guys think in the comments, criticism is encouraged!

When Rei woke up there were dry tears, most his, some Nagisa's. He got out of bed as quietly as possibly, so as not to wake Nagisa. After washing his face, he sat down at his table and got out his book from last night. He got through a half page and decided he just  _couldn't_ read. He turned to the bed and watched Nagisa. He looked fine. He looked healthy. Aside from the dry tears on his cheeks, he looked just like always. Eyes shut lightly, mouth open just a little, his hair mussed up in his state of absolutely  _tragic_ bedhead. He wasn't sick. Not  _cancer,_ not  _Nagisa._ Nagisa  _can't_ have  _cancer,_ he's  _Nagisa._ _  
_

"Rei-chan?" Nagisa's eyes opened slowly, only _just_  letting the light in.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here." Rei reached up and ran his hand through Nagisa's hair, "let's get you cleaned up." He stood to get a washcloth from the bathroom.

"Wait." Rei stopped where he was.

"What's wrong?"

"Just don't leave me. C'mere"

"You need to wash your face."

"Later. Come cuddle."

Rei took the two steps back to the bed and climbed in next to Nagisa, "what type?"

"Hmm?"

"What type of cancer is it?"

"The doctors said it's a tumor. Brain Stem Glioma."

"I don't actually know anything about that."

"Me either" Nagisa laughed a little bit, trying to lighten the mood.

"How did you... How'd you find out?"

"I was getting headaches. Really really really bad headaches. I thought they'd just pass, so I was just gonna wait it out, but then I started seeing two of everything. It would come and go, so I thought maybe I'd be okay. I fell over one day, just standing there, for no reason, and mom took me to the hospital. It's too late. They can't remove the tumor because something about brain stems controlling important stuff or something. I don't know. I just. They said that this type has the longest remission time or something, but that they didn't catch it soon enough to do anything, they said I might not have much longer." He would not cry. He refused to cry. Then he felt a wet spot on the top of his head where Rei's chin was, and he couldn't  _not_ cry. It all came out again and he couldn't stop.

"Rei-chan?" it was a little hard to decipher through their sobs.

"Yeah?"

"I don't want to die."

And Rei swore that if he did nothing else in his life ever, he was going to make sure Nagisa had the best damn last months anyone could ever have.

* * *

"I can't do this."

"I'm right here."

"I can't."

"I'll help."

"Rei-chan, I  _can't_ tell them."

"Then I will."

"Okay."

They rang Haru's doorbell.

"Ojama shimasu" the boys called in unison when Haru answered the door.

"We need to talk to you." Nagisa said quietly as they walked into the living area, where Makoto waited.

"What's wrong?" Makoto  _always_ looked concerned, but this was more than just "resting concerned face".

"Nagisa-kun as cancer!" Rei just sort of let it out. They hadn't even sat down yet, but Rei just couldn't hold it in.

Mako's already concerned face seemed to grow impossibly more concerned, and Nagisa broke into tears.

"What?" was all Haru could say as he sat down next to his also-crying Makoto. He rubbed his back in a rare display of physical affection.

"It's a tumor, brain cancer. He may not have very long, so lets make it as great as possible!" Rei put on a weak fake smile that absolutely  _screamed_ "I love you and I'm scared"

Haru nodded solemnly in agreement, Mako sniffled something out that no one could understand, but both he and Nagisa were regaining composure.

"So, what are we going to do?" Mako asks, this is the most helpless Nagisa and Rei have ever seen their friend. Haru had seen it once before, when the old fisherman's boat sank. Haru's hand slid down from Mako's back and took his hand, giving him a light reassuring squeeze. 

Rei looked at Mako, not fully understanding the question, "I don't know, honestly. I thought we'd graduate, go off to college, stay in touch of course, keep ties with his family--"

"Rei" Haru cut him off before he started crying again. He'd been on the brink of it since they walked in, "he meant right now."

"Oh." Nagisa giggled, despite all that Rei had just said, "well, Nagisa-kun, what do you want to do?"

"Let's get ice cream!" he called, happily as ever.

"Okay," Rei agreed and Makoto and Haru both stood, still holding hands.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

"Reiiiiii-channnnnn~" Nagisa's voice was light and airy, as if he hadn't told all of his friends that he was suffering from a terminal illness only last week.

"Yes, Nagisa-ku--" Nagisa hopped on his back, just like always, but, also just like always, startling and knocking the breath out of poor completely suspecting Rei.

"Let's go to the mall!"

"Why?"

"Because we haven't had a real date in a while and it'll be fun. C'mon!"

"What do you mean 'we haven't had a real date in a while'? We have dates  _every_ weekend!"

"No, every weekend I come over to your house, or you come to mine, we watch a movie that we've seen a thousand times and I fall asleep in the middle of, and you carry me to bed, knowing that I'll wake up as soon as you set me down and we'll make out in bed for a while before falling asleep.  _That's_ not a date." Nagisa had climbed down off Rei and was now in front of him, his head tilted to the side and his cheeks puffed out, his voice coming out in a bored pout.

"Fine" Rei mumbled, not entirely sure how to respond.

Nagisa started jumping around and yelling something about a "proper date" and "Rei" being for "g-REI-t boyfriend". Then he fell. He just fell. Straight on the ground, his legs giving out under him.

"Nagisa-kun!" Rei was immediately on the ground at his side, pulling the smaller boy into his lap, "are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I just lost my balance is all."

Rei held Nagisa against his chest a little too tightly, but Nagisa snuggled in, "I'm sorry" Nagisa whispered into Rei's arm. Rei just shook his head and stood them upright, then picked Nagisa up and held him bridal-style.

"To the mall then?"

"You're not seriously going to carry me like this all the way there, are you?" Nagisa laughed, seeing him smiling again made some of the fear in Rei's stomach dissipate.

"No, of course not! I'm going to carry you like this to the train, then I'm going to set you down so you can sit, then, when it's time to get off the train, you'll get on my back, and I'll carry you to the mall, where you'll get off and walk within eyesight."

"Wow, did you just think of all that?" Rei didn't let Nagisa know that he'd wanted to carry him like this, over a threshold maybe, since before they started dating.

Everything went exactly as Rei had planned, with only  _a few_ rude looks.

"Rei-chan! You really carried me  _all_ way here!"

Rei smiled and laughed like he did the week he joined the swim club just before he sunk, "well, of course! What kind of boyfriend would I be if I couldn't do this much!"

Nagisa giggled and took Rei's hand in his own before walking through the electronic sliding doors.

"Oooh, Rei-chan! Look at that hoodie!" Nagisa pulled at Rei's arm and pointed at a window display of multiple sleeveless hoodies that  _all_ looked like something Nagisa would wear. _  
_

"Which one?"

" _That_ one!"

"Nagisa-kun, there are six hoodies there"

"The pink one!"

There were  _three_ pink ones.

"Nagisa-kun. Half of those hoodies are pink."

"Okay, look, see the one,  _there,_ with the little purple bows on it and a heart over the left?  _That_ pink one!"

"Yeah, I guess it's cute?"

"It's  _adorable._ "

They walked a little further, Nagisa pointing out little things he thought were cute or interesting. 

"Rei-chan, there's the book shop!" Nagisa rarely got excited about books. Like, he never got excited about books, but he knew Rei loved to read, so he raced into the shop just as excitedly as he would any other. He pulled Rei to the fiction side, though, instead of going to the manga while Rei looked through the non-fiction sciencey stuff he was into.

Nagisa stood in front of the books and stared at them like they were the only thing in the world. If he hadn't been holding onto his hand, Rei was afraid Nagisa might get sucked into one.

"This one!" he declared, plucking a blue book with red roses on the cover off the shelf.

"You want to read that?"

"Yes."

"Okay?"

"Let's do it!"

"What?"

"Let's read this."

"Together?"

"Yes, Rei-chan! How're we gonna read it apart?"

"I don't understand."

"Ugh. Okay, just wait. You'll see."

"Okay?"

They went through the non-fiction section, where Rei got three books on the theory of this-that-and-the-other-thing.

* * *

"Nagisa-kun, what  _are_ you doing?"

"Moving this table."

"Why?" Rei had left the room for less than five minutes, and he returned to find Nagisa pushing his bedroom table off the carpet.

"We need this space."

"For what?"

"For reading."

"What?"

"Just help me move this table."

 _Help_ him? The table is just a little glass coffee table. It's not that heavy. Why does he need help with it? Then Rei remembered how weak Nagisa's had been earlier. When Nagisa pulled, Rei went on instinct, never really caring how hard he was tugged. As much as they were trying to ignore it, Nagisa was still sick and he was growing weaker.

Rei moved the table away and Nagisa got pillows off the bed, then he got the book and laid down on the floor where the table was only a minute ago. He patted the floor next to him, beckoning Rei over to him, and, of course, Rei laid down next to him. Nagisa opened the book and held one side of it, holding it out for Rei to hold up the other side above them. Rei took his side and started reading aloud. It was a sweet story of a prince and princess from different kingdoms falling in love, they truly loved each other with all their hearts, Nagisa sat, trying to come up with some kind of ship name for them.

Rei turned to look at Nagisa, thinking he'd find him following along with what Rei was reading, but instead looked straight into wide pink eyes. Nagisa was smiling and laughing and Rei wanted to freeze time. He didn't want to move ever. He wanted to lay on the floor and read romance novels and fairy tales with Nagisa and listen to him laugh and see him smile and listen when he talked even if he was busy and he wanted to live. He just wanted to live with Nagisa. He wanted to live forever in this moment, or any moment, any moment at all,  _any_ moment would be just fine, as long as he got to live with Nagisa.

"Rei-chan?" Nagisa wiped tears off Rei's face, "what's wrong?"

Rei moved forward and kissed Nagisa, hoping that maybe if they can't live together he can at least die with him.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Sousuke stood at their bookshelf, not looking for anything in particular. Just bored. Rin was on the phone with Gou in the other room and he needed something to do. Their conversations could last anywhere from five minutes to two hours. Sousuke finally found a book, something he'd seen Rin reading last week. He made his way to their room where he planned to just sit in bed and read until Rin was done on the phone. Maybe he'd poke his face or tease him quietly, or maybe he'd just take the phone and talk to Gou about all the things Rin won't tell her, like how he doesn't go to swim practice every day like he's supposed to, or how he skipped math last week, or maybe he'd just tell her that things were going great, that her big brother was in good hands, though she already knew that.

The moment Sousuke walked into the room he knew he'd be doing none of that. Rin sat with his knees up to rest his forehead on and his phone thrown to the other end of the bed. He shook like he was trying to hold in loud crying. Sousuke set the book on the nightstand and crawled into bed next to Rin. He put his arm around his should and pulled Rin closer. Rin balled his fists into Sousuke's shirt and cried on his chest.

"What happened? Is Gou okay?" That's all Sousuke could think of that would make Rin cry like this. Rin cried like this when his father died, Rin cried like this when they were four and Gou got a really bad fever that they didn't know if she'd survive, Rin did not cry like this when he was angry. Rin did not cry like this when he was sad. Rin only cried like this when he was beyond hope.

Rin nodded.

"Is Nanase okay?" Sousuke knows Rin loves Haru, Sousuke knows that in the years Rin was in Australia without him, all he thought about was Haru, Sousuke knows that if Haru didn't have Makoto and Sousuke hadn't transferred to Samezuka last year, there would probably be more than friendship between those two if Rin had his way. Sousuke does not deny that he was jealous of Haru when he first properly met him and saw them together, but now, he realises that Rin cares about Haru a lot, Haru is Rin's best friend, and Rin would cry like this if something detrimental had happened to the little aquaphilic.

Rin nodded again.

"Makoto?"

All Sousuke got were nods.

"Your mom?"

Finally Rin spoke up, "Nagisa."

"Nagisa?"

Rin pulled back and looked at Sousuke, he nodded again.

"What did he do this time?" Sousuke was  _more_ than used to hearing about how Nagisa had ended up in holding for sneaking into the penguin exhibit at the zoo, and how Nagisa did this that and the other thing and fell through the ice trying to ice skate, and how Nagisa had stolen Rei's glasses and  _mailed_ them to Rin in  _Australia_  "just because", but none of those things would make Rin cry like this.

"He went and got himself fucking cancer!" If Rin was  _crying_ before he was  _bawling_ now, "a brain tumor or something. Gou says he doesn't have long."

Sousuke didn't know what to say, and he knew he didn't have to say anything, so he just pulled Rin close again and rubbed his back and played with his hair and kissed his head and Rin calmed down enough to talk again.

"We're going home. I have to see him."

"Okay."

* * *

Nagisa was sat on his front steps waiting for Rei. As soon as he saw Rei approaching he jumped up and tackled him, kissing anywhere he could reach.

"N-Nagisa-kun!" Rei knew today was special and he was expecting something like this, but still. They're in the middle of the street in broad daylight.

"Happy anniversary, Rei-chan!!" Nagisa got off of him and ran back to his porch laughing. Rei followed after him.

"Ojama shimasu" Rei said as he entered the house. Nagisa led him straight to the living room where he put in the DVD that Rei brought and told Rei to sit down. The previews started and Nagisa went to get snacks. He came back with a bowl of popcorn, a plate of cookies on top of said bowl, various packs of things, and two cups of some kind of carbonated drink. How he managed to carry it all was a mystery.

"Please be careful, Nagisa-kun."

"We've been dating for a year now, Rei-chan, you can drop the '-kun'" was all Nagisa said before switching the light off with his elbow and setting all the food down on the table in front of the couch.

He sat down next to Rei, but, after a long minute of moving and re-situating and trying to get comfortable, failing, and trying again, Nagisa had Rei laying down on the inside of the couch with his head on a throw pillow, and Nagisa in his arms in front of him. Nagisa snuggled back into Rei's chest and let out a content sigh as the movie started. Nagisa's parents were out for the weekend and his sisters were all at university already, so they could lay on the couch and watch as many movies as they wanted for as long as they wanted.

Nagisa felt smaller than usual in Rei's arms. Rei remembered taking up a bit more space on this couch than they were now. And, now that he thought about it, Nagisa did seem a bit lighter than usual when he jumped on him earlier.

"Nagisa-kun"

"Hmm?"

"Have you lost weight."

"Yeah..." Nagisa said quietly, "I haven't really been eating much lately."

"Why?"

"I dunno, I just haven't been hungry."

Not hungry.  _Nagisa_ being not hungry.

Rei didn't say anything else on the issue, but he very much noticed when Nagisa didn't eat the whole plate of cookies in one sitting.

After the movie ended Nagisa led Rei to his room as though Rei had never been in there before. They sat on Nagisa's bed as awkwardly as they had that first time, until Nagisa took Rei's hand in his and kissed his fingers, "I love you" he whispered, "and I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For hurting you. I made you join the swim club and I made you do so much with me, then I confessed and we started dating, and now, only a year later, I'm going to die. This isn't what was supposed to happen. We were supposed to grow up and Rei-chan would be a great scientist and probably find the cure for ca- AIDs or something, and I'd be, like, an astronaut or a zookeeper or something and we'd have this house together and have old people house parties with Mako-chan and Haru-chan and Rin-Rin and Sou-chan and Gou-chan and Ai-chan and even Momo-chan would come and we'd all do old people things together like, talk about the economy and stuff, then maybe one day we would adopt a little girl and you'd teach her to read and I'd teach her to bake sweets and she'd go wherever Mako-chan ends up teaching to learn to swim and she'd be great and ours and we'd have this great life and not be dead until we were old and grey and the only one we'd be leaving behind is our little girl who wouldn't be little anymore, maybe she'd be married with kids too or something, but she'd be expecting and she'd be sad but she'd be ready because we were old and I wasn't  _seventeen years old--"_

Rei cut him off with a kiss, when they pulled away Rei wiped the tears off Nagisa's face and then his own, "Nagisa," Nagisa took in a shallow gasp at the use of his name without a suffix, "I love you. And I don't care if we got to live until we were one thousand years old, I just want to spend my life with you. And I have. I don't think I'll ever find anyone else if you don't make it out of this. I love you I love you I love you." Nagisa surged forward to kiss him again, pushing him back onto the bed. They only broke apart to breathe after that, "I love you so much" Nagisa panted out between kisses.

 


	5. Chapter 5

Haru and Makoto were woken at seven thirty in the morning by the doorbell. Haru woke up first. He untangled his legs form Makoto's, wriggled out of his arms, and sat up, then layed back down, deciding that whoever it was could wait until at least ten. The doorbell rang again and Haru's mind started working down the list of people it could be

  * Makoto was already here
  * The old lady next door would have gone to Makoto's
  * Rei would have called
  * Nagisa would be with Rei because today is their anniversary
  * Rin is in Australia



Curiosity willed him out of bed. Makoto had woken up mid-list and just watched Haru decide whether or not he cared enough to answer the door. He got up, threw on a shirt, and made his way downstairs, Makoto following closely behind. He opened the door and put his hand up to cover his eyes.

"Rin?"

"Hey" Rin said weakly as Sousuke appeared behind him.

* * *

Nagisa and Rei arrived an hour later, Rei's hair looked half combed and Nagisa's looked like he'd been patting it into place with his fingers. Right, anniversary.

"Ojama shimasu" they said as they entered the house.

"What did you need to talk about, Makoto-senpai?"

"Uh, well, there's kind of someone who wanted to see you two." he led them to the living room.

"Rin-Rin! Sou-chan!"

"See, the kid's fine." Sousuke said to Rin.

"He's lost a lot of weight."

"How can you tell so easily?" Makoto asked him.

"You've been around him since he got sick. You wouldn't have noticed a subtle change like that."

"I noticed" Rei chimed in, reminding the older boys that they were, in fact, still in the room.

"Of course  _you_ would have noticed." Rin said with a snort.

Rei went red, Nagisa smiled though and nodded.

"N-Nagisa-kun!"

"Anyways, if someone could tell me what's going on without crying"

"Nagisa has cancer" Haru offered, nearly monotone.

"That was very descriptive Doctor Fucking Nanase."

"It's brain cancer. I can't get surgery to remove it because it's connected to something important or something."

"Is there radiation treatment or anything?"

"There's radiation, and we're going to try it, but the doctor's aren't sure if it will work because of how late it is already"

The boys ended up all sitting in Haru's living room playing video games on their DS's until Nagisa fell asleep on the floor and Rei said it was time they left. Rei woke Nagisa, and Nagisa climbed onto his back, just like Rei knew he would.

"Bye-bye, Rin-Rin, Sou-chan" Nagisa breathed out as he settled back into sleep with his cheek on Rei's shoulder.

As Rei was passing him and he was  _sure_ no one else was looking, Rin rubbed Nagisa's back. Everyone knew that, even if he wouldn't admit it, he really loved Nagisa a lot more than he let on.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this chapter took so long, I spent way too long trying to figure out how to write DS as a plural word.


	6. Chapter 6

"Rin." Rin rolled over, not wanting to get up, not wanting to leave. Any time they vistited home they stayed at Haru's house: aside from Makoto  _always_ being there, He lived alone, living alone meant that he had spare rooms, and it also meant that Rin and Sousuke could sleep in the same bed but avoid comeing out to their parents for another visit.

"Rin." Sousuke said again, a little louder.

"Five minutes later" Rin growled into the pillow. It smelled like it had been washed and put in a closet for a long time. It probably had. Rin could almost  _see_ Makoto taking the pillows and blankets off the bed, Haru complaining that the bed was too western for the traditional style of the house, Mako making him fold the sheets and put it all away until the next time someone came to visit, even though the only people who ever visit are Rin and Sousuke, and Nagisa and Rei.

"Rin." Sousuke was growing ever more impatient. Rin huffed out a breath and sat up to glare at Sousuke, who was sitting on the edge of the bed watching Rin. Rin put one arm out and flopped back down, pulling Sousuke down and laying himself on top of him.

"I'm not getting up." He stated, nuzzling his head into Sousuke's neck under his chin.

"Rin"

"No"

"Rin"

"Sousuke"

"Rin I can't breathe"

Rin jumped up faster than he ever wanted to again, the room spun for a moment and when his vision came back into focus Sousuke was tackling him onto the bed backwards, had it not been for Sousuke's hand on the back of his head he's sure he would've gotten whiplash.

With his head leaning over the foot of the bed, Rin really didn't have much control over the rest of his body, so there wasn't much he could do when Sousuke started placing random closed mouth kisses all over his neck and chin. Sousuke liked being in control and Rin really just liked playing around. Sousuke kept kissing and tickling Rin until the boy was reduced to nothing but laughter. Sousuke sat up, pulling Rin up with him, but still sitting on his legs in case he tried to lay back down, and brought their lips together.

"Stop it" Haru's voice rang through the door in response to all the noise.

"Oooooh Sousuke" Rin called out dramatically before hitting the wall a few times.

Sousuke covered his face and sighed into his hand, "that's not even what you sound like."

"Shut up, _he_  doesn't know that."

"You two are here enough that I definitely know that."

"Haru!" Makoto said, his voice cracking a little bit in the middle.

"We'll be out in a minute" Sousuke called, hopping up and stripping.

"S-Sousuke! What are you doing!?"

"Changing, idiot" he said as he pulled two pairs of pants from their suitcase and threw a pair at Rin, who pulled them on and leaned to reach for a shirt. He started to pull a blue one out before Sousuke smacked at his hand, "wear your own clothes!"

"No" Rin said, a little too much like Haru for Sousuke's comfort, before pulling the shirt the rest of the way out and over his head. Sousuke threw a hairbrush in his general direction, landing it about an inch away from Rin on the bed. He brushed through his hair quickly, not much caring how it looked.

Rin stood and quickly made up the bed before opening the door.

"Have you just been standing here the whole time?"

Silence.

"Why?"

"You're slow."

"Then why were you  _just waiting here_?"

"What was I supposed to do?"

" _I don't know,_ something  _productive_ maybe?"

Mako stood behind Haru not really sure what to do, even after all these years he still didn't know how to stop them once that bite found it's way into their voices.

Haru didn't really seem to have anything else to say, so he stalked down the hall to go downstairs.

* * *

"Reiiiiiii-channnn~" Nagisa jumped onto Rei's lap, knocking the book out of his hands and successfully losing his place.

"N-Nagisa-kun!"

Nagisa wrapped his arms around Rei's neck and rested his head on Rei's shoulder, peppering kisses along his neck.

"Nagisa-kun?"

"Rei-chan?"

"Hmm?"

Nagisa giggled and rolled off Rei, "lay down with me?"

They crawled into Nagisa's bed, they'd been spending more and more time at Nagisa's house than Rei's, his parents wanted him home more often what with their son's terminal illness and all. Nagisa wrapped his arms around Rei's torso and rested his head on Rei's chest.

"I love you"

"I love you too, Nagisa-kun"

"I'm scared"

"Me too" Rei said after a moment. He wanted so badly to kiss Nagisa's head and tell him everything would be okay, but Rei was no liar, so he just kissed Nagisa's head and breathed in his strawberry scented shampoo like it was the last time he ever would, which Rei knew was completely possible.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how I ended up with so much on Sousuke and Rin. I am sorry.


End file.
